Accidentally Mated To Four Alphas-Chapter 273: _ The Final Verdict

The doors slam open.

The sound is violent enough to crack the air, sharp as a gunshot, and it ricochets through the courtroom until every whisper, breath, and heartbeat dies mid-beat.

Light pours in from behind the two figures standing in the doorway, turning them briefly into dark silhouettes against a brighter world. For half a second, no one moves. No one speaks.

Then the taller of the two steps forward. "Stop this."

The voice is calm and not loud or theatrical. And somehow that makes it worse because it gives it a chilling impact.

"Heidi is innocent."

The name makes everyone else gasp. A loud clash of murmurs tears through the room as heads snap toward the entrance. Mutterings burst to life, overlapping and frantic.

"That’s... "

"Is that...?"

"No way!"

Lucan Castell walks into the courtroom like he never left it.

He looks different. Not in the dramatic, scarred, hardened way people expect from rogues, but lighter. His hair is longer, pulled back at the nape of his neck. His clothes are simple, worn, and human made. No pack insignia. No family crest.

Freedom stitched into every seam.

Beside him is a man a few inches shorter, shoulders hunched, hands nervously fisted in the sleeves of an oversized jacket. Dark curls fall into his eyes as he glances around the room like it might bite him.

Eli.

The murmurs grow teeth.

"That’s the Castells heir. He left the pack with a guy to live as a rogue."

"A low-class one."

"Ran off like a coward."

"No—look at him. That’s brave."

"I never thought Lucan had it in him."

The room fractures into judgment and awe in equal measure. Heidi’s breath catches painfully in her chest. Lucan. Her heart does something traitorous and soft, like it’s melting from the inside out. When he looks at her, his mouth tilts into the smallest, saddest smile. The kind that says: I’m here. I always was.

Oh, Lucan. Oh, big brother. Heidi cries internally, wanting nothing more than to jump into his arms and let the whole world happen to someone else.

Mrs. Castell shrieks. "What is the meaning of this?!"

She surges to her feet so abruptly her chair scrapes loudly against the stone floor. Her face is flushed, eyes wild with fury and disbelief as she points at Lucan like he’s an apparition she can banish with enough rage.

"Have you lost your mind?" she demands. "After everything—after abandoning your family, your duty, you run off with—" her gaze flicks to Eli with open contempt, "—that. And you come back here to side against your own sister?! With a girl who destroyed her?!"

Lucan doesn’t flinch. Not even when Sierra jerks violently in her wheelchair, eyes blazing.

"You’re insane," Mrs. Castell continues. "You should be standing with us! With your blood!"

Lucan turns to face her fully.

"Blood," he repeats quietly. Then his expression hardens as anger threads through his gentleness. "Isn’t an excuse to excuse cruelty."

"You always chose outsiders over blood, you bastard!"

"No. I chose the truth. And you’ve been avoiding it for years, Mother."

Sierra lets out a broken, furious sound from her wheelchair. "Don’t listen to him! He’s always hated me..."

Lucan turns on her. The gentleness everyone remembers, the soft-spoken heir, the boy who hated conflict—is gone.

"You didn’t end up like this because people failed you," he says flatly. "You ended up like this because no one ever told you no."

Mrs. Castell gasps. "How dare you...!"

"How dare you," Lucan snaps, finally raising his voice, and the sound of it stuns the room. "You defended every cruel thing she ever did. You excused it. Covered it. Fed it. And now you’re shocked it ate her alive?"

He gestures toward Sierra, shaking with rage.

"She tried to murder someone," Lucan continues, voice breaking at the ’murder’. "An innocent girl placed under our roof for protection. And you’re still calling her the victim."

Sierra lets out a strangled laugh. "Oh, so now you’re a saint?"

Lucan looks at her and shakes his head with pity. "You tried to kill her and you want to talk about betrayal?"

Sierra’s face twists. "You were never a good brother!"

"That’s funny," Lucan replies softly. "Because I’ve been cleaning up after you my entire life."

Mrs. Castell shakes her head violently. "You don’t know what you’re saying."

"I do," Lucan states. "And I’m done pretending otherwise."

Something in Heidi’s chest caves inward. Lucan looks at her the way he always has like she’s real. Like she matters. Like she’s worth protecting even when it costs everything.

Her throat burns as he faces the Alpha.

"Heidi is innocent," he says clearly. "What happened was self-defense. And if this court is interested in justice instead of spectacle, you will let her go—and punish the one who deserves it."

Sierra screams. "You’re not my brother!"

Lucan doesn’t look back. "Not anymore."

The Alpha studies him, expression unreadable. "Strong words. Do you have proof?"

Lucan nods once. "Yes." He steps aside. "Eli," he says gently. "It’s okay."

Eli swallows. His hands tremble as he steps forward. The whispers intensify.

"That’s the lover..."

"Heard he’s low-born. "

"No status? How did they even meet?"

"What could he possibly—"

Eli flinches but keeps going. He stops a few feet from the center, shoulders hunched, eyes fixed on the floor.

"My–my name is Eli," he begins, voice low. "I—I-I’m Lucan’s partner."

A few scoffs ripple through the crowd. Eli flinches but keeps going.

"We had just arrived at a human motel that night," he explains. "Lucan didn’t bring anything with him. Not his phone. Not his cards. He panicked because... " He hesitates, then blurts, "... because he likes his video games and he needs his clean clothes and his charger and everything was at the Castell house. We had stupidly left without taking a single thing."

Lucan chuckles despite himself.

Eli shoots him a look. "This is serious."

A few surprised laughs bubble up, cutting the tension just a bit.

"So," Eli continues, regaining courage, "I went back. Alone."

Mrs. Castell’s eyes widen. "You what? You snuck in again?!"

"My Moon-given ability is...," Eli says quickly, ignoring her. "Invisibility. I can slip in and out without being noticed."

That earns a stir.

"I didn’t think anything bad would happen," Eli admits. "Lucan was worried about Heidi because he didn’t trust his mother and sister alone with her. I thought his concerns were valid, so I wanted to add to the surprise."

Heidi’s throat tightens.

"I thought I’d record a short video of her. Just to show Lucan she was okay."

Lucan’s grip tightens on his partner to encourage him.

"And then," Eli continues, "I saw her come down the stairs."

Heidi’s heartbeat slams into her ears.

"I started recording... But then Sierra came down too. Heidi hid."

A murmur swells.

"And Sierra..." Eli swallows hard. "She was on the phone with her friend. Ivy."

Every muscle in Heidi’s body locks.

"I recorded everything," Eli announces, voice shaking but determined. "Her saying she was going to kill Heidi. That she’d make it look like an accident. That she’d finally be free of her."

The courtroom implodes.

"What?!"

"That’s impossible!"

"She said that?!"

Sierra screams. "LIAR!"

Eli flinches but presses on. "She laughed. She said it was easy. That no one would miss Heidi anyway."

Lucan’s jaw clenches so hard his cheek muscles twitch.

"I left immediately. I ran. I tried to get back to Lucan, but—"

"The blast," Heidi whispers.

Eli nods. "It had already happened."

Silence descends like ash.

"We’ve been hiding ever since," Lucan adds quietly. "Waiting for the moment truth might matter."

Eli pulls out his phone with trembling hands. "I have the video. Unedited."

He hands it to a pack official. The room holds its breath as the footage plays. Sierra’s voice fills the chamber, gloating about her plan to teach Heidi a lesson.

Heidi’s knees almost buckle.

Gasps, shouts, outrage explode.

"That’s attempted murder!"

"She planned it!"

"She lied!"

Even the elders look rattled. The truth has been laid bare.

Morgan laughs. "Oh," he says, rolling his shoulders. "Oh, you are all going to regret this."

He turns slowly, eyes blazing. "You accused her," he snarls. "You condemned her. You invoked the Goddess while protecting a monster."

The Alpha raises a hand. "Enough."

"No," Morgan snaps. "You don’t get ’enough.’ You almost killed her."

Grayson steps forward. "You would’ve executed her."

Amias’s eyes glow fully now. "For your convenience."

The crowd is in uproar.

The Alpha lifts his staff. "Silence."

It barely even works.

"Sierra Castell," the Alpha says coldly, "is guilty of attempted murder."

Mrs. Castell collapses back into her seat.

"She will be stripped of her title as the Delta’s daughter and demoted to the Omega status."

A strain of laughter sizzles through the crowd. Sierra Castell, it seems, has made quite a lot of enemies among her peers.

Sierra screams. "No! You can’t—!"

"That fits her current condition," the Alpha finishes. "And her crimes."

Heidi’s jaw drops. That’s it? That’s all? They were going to kill her for something they were unsure of and now that there’s solid evidence against Sierra, that’s all she gets?

"And as for Heidi," the Alpha says, turning toward her.

Her heart plummets, realizing the bias isn’t ending there.

"Self-defense or not, she chose to lay a trap instead of raising an alarm."

Heidi’s breath stutters.

"And she killed a wolf."

The room goes cold.

"She will be punished."

Heidi sways—and Lucan moves, catching her before she falls. Her world tilts. Punished? Even now. Even after everything. She closes her eyes. Of course. Of course, winning still means losing.

Her wolf snarls angrily. "They were never going to let us go. Let’s kill them all.